I predict by 2015, the legend will be that Vernon Maxwell never let anyone score a point on him..... ever. lol. His defense was good, but give me a break - he used to get lit up, too. We're not talking about some kind of legendary defense, here. And for those saying he'd get inside TMac's head, everybody and their mother got inside Vernon's. Hell, fans in the stands would get inside Vernon's head. Didn't Maxwell fake an injury when we got Clyde Drexler? Yeah, there's that mental game again. Good, but overhyped.
Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE Date: WED 10/30/1991 Section: Sports Page: 1 Edition: 2 STAR Rockets' Maxwell rising into some rarefied Air By EDDIE SEFKO Staff He has been called the incomparable Michael Jordan. So, Don Chaney says, let's compare him. As far as Chaney is concerned, His Airness is not so far removed from one Vernon Maxwell that the two cannot be mentioned in the same sentence. With an NBA season ready to explode into action, Maxwell is ready to explode with it. He's primed to storm onto the scene with all the fury of a Jordan tomahawk dunk. The Rockets believe they have the next Jordan clone in their midst. "He's no Michael Jordan," Chaney said Tuesday. "But I'd have to say that I've seen Michael Jordan quickness and I've seen Michael Jordan aggression offensively and defensively in him throughout training camp. "He's much more aggressive on defense than Michael is. And lately, the way he's been exploding to the basket and dunking on guys, he's been as aggressive offensively as Michael is. "I mean, that's vintage Michael, when you can lull the defense a little with the dribble, then explode to the basket. And that's what Vernon has done. "I think he's watched Michael very closely the past year." Not only that, but Maxwell has become very much the complete NBA player over the past season as well. When he lines up against Magic Johnson on Friday in the season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers, Maxwell will be starting what he considers the first season of the rest of his life. Maxwell has always had the ability to fly to the basket in Jordanesque style. But he is only now realizing it and refining that ability. He spent the first two seasons of his NBA career twiddling his thumbs and growing up. Last year, he scratched the surface of his talent level, leading the NBA in three-point shots made. Now, the rest is yet to come. Maxwell, who averaged 17 points last year, feels he can rival the league's best shooting guards this year. Except for one -- Jordan. "Michael is at another level," he says. "But I feel I can make things happen and create on the floor as well as anybody else in the league. "I'll never forget two years ago when Isiah Thomas came up to me and told me to get my act together and grow up. He didn't even know me. And I don't know what he saw in me. "But he must have seen something because he told me there was no limit to how good I could be if I'd just grow up some." The growing-up process took some time. Maxwell has had the talent all along. Wanting to maximize that talent took some doing. His mistakes at San Antonio included several off-the-court problems. Those followed his admitted drug problems at the University of Florida. But during the past year, Maxwell has been befriended by John Lucas, who has been down his share of bad roads with regard to drugs. Last weekend, Lucas dropped by The Summit and said he was leaving town for a few days to help administer a Continental Basketball Association substance-abuse awareness clinic. But he said he would be back by Friday. "I've got to see my son play," he said. Lucas was referring to Maxwell, who has become almost a live-in relative with Lucas. With Lucas' help, Maxwell has embraced a less-exotic lifestyle and stayed close to the simpler pleasures. He hopes this mindset coincides with a physical high point this season. "I feel like it's going to be a big year for me," Maxwell said. "It's kind of nice that it starts out with a big task against one of my old friends (Magic Johnson). What better way to start off the season?" Johnson is listed as doubtful for the opener because of the flu, but in the past, he has been about as pleasant as a virus for Maxwell. During 11 meetings since April 1990 (seven during the playoffs, four during the regular season), Johnson has averaged 20.1 points and 13.5 assists. In other words, Johnson has done to Maxwell what he has done to every other defender in the league. But it is Maxwell's defense that has the Rockets fired up about his potential this season. Last year, Maxwell was having a decent season, but it took an upward swing in March when the Rockets scored a 10-point win at Chicago. Maxwell stared Jordan in the face during a tense portion of the game and created a situation from which he has drawn. He and Jordan bumped elbows, among other things, and neither of them liked the close contact. Jordan took exception, and Maxwell responded with a not-so-gentle shove. "A lot of people thought I was crazy, going nose-to-nose with Michael," he says. "But it was a certain time when I had to do what I had to do. "But after that, people started respecting me a lot more. The Rockets still have a hard time believing they got Maxwell for a paltry $50,000 from San Antonio in February 1990. "He's one of the fastest people in the league going end-to-end on the court," general manager Steve Patterson said. "But he's also brought an element of toughness to us. Anybody who can go nose-to-nose with Michael Jordan in Chicago Stadium like he did has to be tough.
I will uphold his legacy Dr of Dunk, til the last cell in my body dies. Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE Date: TUE 06/21/1994 Section: Sports Page: 2 Edition: 2 STAR '94 NBA FINALS/Maxwell playing it cool/Guard says series performance matches role By JONATHAN FEIGEN Staff Teammates surrounded Vernon Maxwell, the Rockets' passionate and outspoken guard, to hear a final word or two of inspiration. Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich had already given his instructions. The practices and meetings had long since been completed. The Rockets were seconds from taking the court, and as always, Maxwell did the talking. The brashest and loudest of the Rockets said just what was on his mind: "Let's work as hard as we can. We have the home-court advantage. Let's play 48 minutes of hard defense and concentrate, and let's do this thing together." That was it. No trash talk. No screaming. Just try hard and play defense. So much for Mad Max. But then, the NBA Finals have not been a Mad Max kind of series. There have been three technical fouls but few real temper tantrums, and nothing outrageous for the New York Knicks' bulletin board. And beyond the noise, there has been little of the Mad Max offensive craziness or explosiveness. But that, he has said all along, would not be his job against the Knicks. Almost two weeks ago, Maxwell was asked if the NBA Finals would be a showcase for his talents and whether he or Knicks counterpart John Starks would enjoy the offensive fireworks that had become their habit for the nation to see and finally appreciate. Maxwell had burned Phoenix for 31 points in the second half of the Western Conference semifinals' Game 3. His offense had helped carry the Rockets to their 22-1 start as he averaged 15.1 points and 4.9 assists in that stretch and twice made 3-pointers at the buzzer to catapult his team to victory. It seemed natural to expect that Maxwell or Starks, emotional streak shooters who will defy any defense, would steal the show at least once or twice in a seven-game series. "No," Maxwell said six games ago. "That's not my role on this team. I just play defense and help run the offense. We build our offense around Dream (Hakeem Olajuwon) and (Otis) Thorpe inside. The Knicks count on Starks' shooting." Six games later, with the series as even as it was then, Maxwell has proven prophetic and become completely exhausted by the role he expected. Starks has led the Knicks in scoring, averaging 19.3 points per game. And he has had several offensive explosions, including three double-figure fourth quarters. Of the 27 points he scored in Game 6 Sunday, 16 came in the fourth period. But Maxwell has done the dirty work. He has chased Starks around the assorted screens and picks the Knicks set and kept him relatively in check, holding Starks to 39.9-percent shooting. And, Maxwell said, he doesn't mind that his own offense has suffered, his average dipping to 12.2 points per game, his shooting percentage to just 34.1 percent. "I definitely have been a role player, a dirty-work-type guy," Maxwell said. "I stay within our team system. I know what is the focal point of our offense, and that's Dream and Otis. I stay within our offense and try to make something happen. (Starks) is their big guy. They do a lot to get him the ball." The Knicks do as much to free Starks from a defender as any team does for its top gunner. "They set a lot of screens for him," Maxwell said. "They're one of the best screening teams in the league. I've chased a lot of guys around the NBA, but those guys really stick you." Said Mario Elie, who has taken his turn banging into the Knicks' forwards and center Patrick Ewing: "The Knicks set the best picks in the league to get guys open. I'm always seeing the back of Ewing's butt, then here comes (Charles) Oakley, boom! It never ends. And John Starks, that guy comes off the picks so hard. It's tough just keeping up with him." To that, Maxwell has added ball-handling duties, seeking to take some of the pressure off point guard Kenny Smith, and found himself in another thankless, tiring job. "It was tough," he said. "It took a lot out of me. I didn't know it was that hard. I had to dribble up the floor against pressure all night, but we have to do what we have to do to get the win. We're just trying to get into a set offense and get the ball inside." Though he has hardly seemed shy about getting his shots, Maxwell said it is not a priority. Chase Starks. Help run the offense. Score some. And, of course, talk. "Max is our energy," Rockets forward Robert Horry said. "He comes with a lot of fire , and we follow him. He's like the chief, except when he goes on one of those crazy binges and we have to calm him down." Other than that, though, it's just a role for a sudden role player. "I'm pretty much the emotional leader on the team," Maxwell said. "But when I'm talking, Dream plays a big part, backing me up. He's like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah.' So guys listen to me that much more. They feed off it. "I'm always out there talking. Sometimes I talk too much, but I'm always out there talking." And though his offense has been limited, Maxwell is not complaining. This is what he has expected -- a tough, low-scoring seven-game series in which his primary contribution is to limit the opposing guard's shooting percentage. It is not headline, showcase stuff. But it could earn him a championship ring. "It's a lot of fun," he said. "I'm loving it. It might never happen for me again. I'm trying to take full advantage of it."
The irony of you "upholding the legacy" of Vernon Maxwell, tinman, is, Maxwell does a great job year after year, tearing it back down. Maxwell had some great games as a Rocket, but his ultimate legacy, sorry, will be he quit and choked. Physically he was a champion, mentally he was nothing.
its no secret you have hatred in your heart. You might be an admin here, but I hold Rudy T way way way higher than you, and Vernon and Rudy and the rest of the Rockets have made peace with hi. Why can't you? but nevermind if you do or don't. He's still a Rockets legend as posted in the Toyota center video. <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BVy-scLgPvk&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BVy-scLgPvk&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> YOU WILL NEVER ERASE OUR LEGEND DR OF DUNK, YOU WILL NEVER ERASE THE FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP AND YOU KNOW FOR A FACT MAXWELL WAS A HERO.
I think a lot of you are either underestimating T-Mac or overestimating Mad Max. He would slow T-Mac down, like all the great defenders do, but there's no way Max would completely shut T-Mac down, unless of course Mac shuts himself down, which happens too often for my taste.
Your bad karma towards our beloved Vernon did us in tonight. Thanks. Again, don't hate on former Rockets who contributed to the great history. your black hearts will make God angry.
